Generating recommendations for an itinerary having multiple bounds

ABSTRACT

Methods, systems, and computer program products for generating recommendations. In response to receiving a request, the system generates a plurality of suggested recommendations for both a first bound and a second bound of a trip. The system stores the suggested recommendations corresponding to the first bound and the second bound in a memory, where the suggested recommendations corresponding to the second bound coincide to a subset of the suggested recommendations corresponding to the first bound published for display. The system publishes the suggested recommendations corresponding to the first bound for display to a user. In response to receiving an input that indicates a selected recommendation for the first bound, the system determines whether the selected recommendation is one of the subset of the suggested recommendations corresponding to the first bound.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The invention generally relates to computers and computer software, andin particular to methods, systems, and computer program productsgenerating recommendations for an itinerary having multiple bounds.

BACKGROUND

Computer technology is increasingly used in the travel industry tomanage, support, book, reserve, and process travel reservations as wellas data associated therewith. Generally, third party reservation agents(i.e., travel agents) or travelers book flights based on fare structuresestablished by various airlines. The approaches used to calculate thefares charged by an airline may be complex, and it should be appreciatedthat a single flight may charge various passengers different prices forsimilar seats. For example, business travelers may be charged more for aparticular flight than individuals who are traveling for pleasure on thesame exact flight, since individuals traveling for pleasure tend to bemore flexible about flight restrictions. Indeed, there are severalconsiderations that travelers consider when booking flights such as, forexample, the dates of travel, featured services, and the varioussequences of flights between an origin and a destination.

In one approach to present various travel recommendations to reservationagents and travelers, flight information may be presented based on acalendar display. In this approach, the least expensive flight thatdeparts each day is displayed for a range of dates. Alternatively, atravel board may be generated, which displays all of the availableflights between a particular origin and destination for a specific day.Specifically, the travel board may list the least expensive priceavailable for each flight, as well as other more expensive prices thatcorrespond to different fare families for the same flight that may offergreater flexibility or amenities. A fare family is a group of fareshaving the same characteristics and amenities such as, for example,terms and conditions, meals, seating, possibility of date change, andcancellation fees.

In one particular approach, various fares may be presented using atravel board or a calendar display, and are grouped based on a one-waydisplay mode. The one-way display lists departing or outbound flightsseparately from incoming or inbound flights. The fares and flightsproposed for inbound flights are dependent on the fare and flightselected by the traveler for the outbound flight. As a result, allcombinations of possible outbound and inbound flights need to becomputed by the system. Although the one-way display offers manyadvantages, this approach also generates only a limited number of travelrecommendations. Furthermore, an airline's inventory system may bepolled multiple times to retrieve information to generate both thecalendar and the travel board display.

In another approach, fares may be presented utilizing the travel boardor the calendar display based on a one-way combinable mode. It should beappreciated that a fare marked as one-way combinable may be combinedwith another one-way combinable fare. In contrast, a fare marked asnon-combinable may not be combined with some other fares. Furthermore,two or more one-way combinable fares may be used to create a round tripbooking, or to create a one-way trip including multiple flight segments.When using the one-way combinable approach, the search for availableflights may be segmented by either inbound or outbound flight.Specifically, a traveler may select his or her outbound flightindependently from the inbound flight, which results in an increasednumber of travel recommendations that may be presented at one time to atraveler. This is because the system does not need to compute all of thepossible combinations in advance. However, airlines need to adhere tostrict filing guidelines in order to ensure that all of the travelrecommendations presented to a traveler are combinable between inboundand outbound flights.

Thus, improved methods, systems, and computer program products forexchanging travel recommendations are needed that improve the efficiencyof generating recommendations for an itinerary having multiple bounds.

SUMMARY

In an embodiment of the invention, a system for generatingrecommendations for a trip is disclosed. The system includes at leastone processor and a memory coupled to the processors, and the memorystoring data comprising program code that, when executed by the one ormore processors, causes the system to receive a request for the trip,where the trip includes at least a first bound and a second bound. Inresponse to receiving the request, the system generates a plurality ofsuggested recommendations corresponding to both the first bound and thesecond bound of the trip. The system stores the suggestedrecommendations corresponding to the first bound and the second bound ina memory, where the suggested recommendations corresponding to thesecond bound coincide to a subset of the suggested recommendationscorresponding to the first bound published for display. The systempublishes the suggested recommendations corresponding to the first boundfor display to a user. In response to receiving an input that indicatesa selected recommendation for the first bound, the system determineswhether the selected recommendation is one of the subset of thesuggested recommendations corresponding to the first bound. In responseto the selected recommendation being one of the recommendations of thesubset of recommendations, the system retrieves the suggestedrecommendations corresponding to the second bound from the memory. Thesystem publishes the suggested recommendations corresponding to thesecond bound for display to the user.

In one embodiment, in response to the selected recommendation beingdifferent than one of the recommendations of the subset ofrecommendations, the system calculates another set of recommendationsfor the second bound that correspond to the selected recommendation forthe first bound, and publishes the another set of recommendations forthe second bound for display to the user.

In one embodiment, the subset of the suggested recommendationscorresponding to the first bound is based on a percentage of instanceswhen the suggested recommendations corresponding to the second boundfrom the memory are published instantaneously in response to receivingthe input that indicates the selected recommendation for the firstbound. In another embodiment, the program code, when executed by the oneor more processors, further causes the system to determine a quantity.The quantity represents a number of the recommendations corresponding tothe second bound that need to be determined such that the suggestedrecommendations corresponding to the second bound from the memory arepublished instantaneously in response to receiving the input thatindicates a selected recommendation for the first bound.

In yet another embodiment, the program code, when executed by the one ormore processors, further causes the system to store the suggestedrecommendations corresponding to the first bound and the second bound tothe memory for a predetermined amount of time. The predetermined amountof time is adjustable. In another embodiment, the predetermined amountof time is based on an average time of a conversation with the user on awebsite and a volatility of availability data for the trip.

In still another embodiment, the first bound an outbound portion of thetrip, the second bound is an inbound portion of the trip, and the tripis a round-way trip.

In one embodiment, the program code, in response to receiving anotherinput that indicates another selected recommendation for the secondbound, the system updates the suggested recommendations corresponding tothe first bound that are published for display to the user.

In another embodiment, the selected recommendation for the first boundis saved to the memory as a specific key.

In another embodiment of the invention, a method of generatingrecommendations for a trip is disclosed. The method includes receiving,by a computer, a request for the trip. The trip includes at least afirst bound and a second bound. In response to receiving the request,the method includes generating, by the computer, a plurality ofsuggested recommendations for both the first bound and the second boundof the trip. The method further includes storing the suggestedrecommendations corresponding to the first bound and the second bound ina memory of the computer. The suggested recommendations corresponding tothe second bound coincide to a subset of the suggested recommendationscorresponding to the first bound published for display. The method alsoincludes publishing the suggested recommendations corresponding to thefirst bound for display to a user. In response to receiving an inputthat indicates a selected recommendation for the first bound, the methodincludes determining, by the computer, whether the selectedrecommendation is one of the subset of the suggested recommendationscorresponding to the first bound. In response to the selectedrecommendation being one of the recommendations of the subset ofrecommendations, the method includes retrieving the suggestedrecommendations corresponding to the second bound from the memory of thecomputer. Finally, the method includes publishing the suggestedrecommendations corresponding to the second bound for display to theuser.

In another embodiment of the invention, a computer program product isprovided for generating recommendations for a trip, the computer programproduct comprising a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium andprogram code stored on the non-transitory computer-readable storagemedium that, when executed by one or more processors, causes the one ormore processors to receive a request for the trip. The trip includes atleast a first bound and a second bound. In response to receiving therequest, the system may be further caused to generate a plurality ofsuggested recommendations for both the first bound and the second boundof the trip. The system may be further caused to store the suggestedrecommendations corresponding to the first bound and the second bound ina memory. The suggested recommendations corresponding to the secondbound coincide to a subset of the suggested recommendationscorresponding to the first bound published for display. The system maybe further caused to publish the suggested recommendations correspondingto the first bound for display to a user. In response to receiving aninput that indicates a selected recommendation for the first bound, thesystem may be further caused to determine whether the selectedrecommendation is one of the subset of the suggested recommendationscorresponding to the first bound. In response to the selectedrecommendation being one of the recommendations of the subset ofrecommendations, the system may be further caused to retrieve thesuggested recommendations corresponding to the second bound from thememory of the computer. The system may be further caused to publish thesuggested recommendations corresponding to the second bound for displayto the user.

The above summary presents a simplified summary in order to provide abasic understanding of some aspects of the systems and/or methodsdiscussed herein. This summary is not an extensive overview of thesystems and/or methods discussed herein. It is not intended to identifykey/critical elements or to delineate the scope of such systems and/ormethods. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts in a simplifiedform as a prelude to the more detailed description that is presentedlater.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute apart of this specification, illustrate various embodiments of theinvention and, together with the general description of the inventiongiven above, and the detailed description of the embodiments givenbelow, serve to explain the embodiments of the invention.

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic view of an exemplary operating environment forgenerating recommendations for a travel itinerary having two or morebounds, the operating environment including a user interface, a frontend, and a back end in communication with one another via a network.

FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic view of an exemplary computer system of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is an exemplary illustration of two round-way trips that may becalculated by the operating environment shown in FIG. 1 for a singlefare family.

FIG. 4 is an exemplary illustration of an outbound travel board that maybe published for display upon the user interface shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is an exemplary illustration of the outbound travel board and aninbound travel board that may be published for display upon the userinterface shown in FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring now to FIG. 1, an operating environment 10 in accordance withan embodiment of the invention may include a user interface 12, a frontend 14, and a back end 16. The front end 14 of the operating environment10 may include a booking engine 17, an aggregator 18, a popularitycalculator 20, and a popularity database 22. The back end 16 of theoperating environment 10 may include a fare database 24, a faring engine25, a context server 26, a scheduling engine 28, and one or moreavailability databases 30. The user interface 12 may be in communicationwith the front end 14, and the front end 14 may be in communication withthe back end 16 through a network 32. The network 32 may include one ormore private or public networks (e.g., the Internet) that enable theexchange of data.

The user interface 12 may provide end users with an interface foraccessing the front end 14 of the operating environment 10 that enablesend users to search for and book travel itineraries. In one embodiment,the end user may be a traveler or a recommendation agent. The userinterface 12 may comprise a desktop computer, laptop computer, tabletcomputer, smart phone, or any other suitable computing device. The enduser may employ the user interface 12 to search for and book travelservices by accessing the front end 14 though the network 32. The userinterface 12 may also include an application accessible by the end userthat enables the end user to search for and book travel itineraries.This application may comprise, for example, a travel-related websitethat is accessible over the network 32 using a web-browser provided bythe user interface 12.

As explained in greater detail below, one or more suggestedrecommendations for a travel itinerary may be published upon a screen ordisplay 34 of the user interface 12 for display to an end user. Thesuggested recommendations may be based on various travel attributesindicated by the end user. Some examples of travel attributes include,but not limited to, departure dates, departure times, fare family, andprice. Those of ordinary skill in the art will readily appreciate that afare family may be a specific group of fares with the samecharacteristics and amenities such as, but not limited to, terms andconditions, possibility of date change, and cancellation fees.

In the exemplary embodiments as described in the present disclosure, thetravel itinerary is a round-way trip having two bounds, namely anoutbound portion and an inbound portion. For example, the exemplaryembodiments as described below and illustrated in FIGS. 3-5 are for around-way trip from Nice to Paris, which is the outbound portion, andfrom Paris back to Nice, which is the inbound portion. However, it is tobe appreciated that the operating environment 10 is not limited to onlygenerating suggested recommendations for round-way trips. Instead, thedisclosed operating environment 10 may be used to provide suggestedrecommendations for any travel itinerary having two or more bounds.Furthermore, it should also be appreciated that while the disclosedembodiments describe first providing suggested recommendations for anoutbound portion of an itinerary to a traveler and then subsequentlyproviding suggested recommendations for an inbound portion of theitinerary to the traveler based a on particular outbound flight that isselected by the end user, in an alternative embodiment the operatingenvironment 10 may also provide the inbound portion of the itineraryfirst. Finally, it should also be appreciated that while the exemplaryembodiments describe the purchase of airline tickets, the disclosedapproach may be used to provide suggested recommendations for any othermode of travel having two or more bounds such as, for example, railwaytravel.

The front end 14 of the operating environment 10 may be accessed bytravel agents and travelers by the user interface 12 through the network32. As seen in FIG. 1, the booking engine 17 includes the aggregator 18.The aggregator 18 may receive a request from an end user from the userinterface 12 through the network 32 for suggested recommendations for aparticular travel itinerary having two or more bounds. The request mayinclude, for example, an origin, a destination, departure dates, anddeparture times. As explained in greater detail below, a plurality ofsuggested outbound flights based on the request may first be publishedfor display to the user upon the display 34 of the user interface 12.Then, once the end user selects a particular outbound flight, then aplurality of suggested inbound flights that correspond to the selectedoutbound flight may be published for display. Furthermore, as explainedbelow and shown in FIGS. 3-5, once an end user selects one of theinbound flights, a bound update may be performed in order to refresh theoutbound flights that are displayed.

In response to receiving the request from the end user for the travelitinerary, the aggregator 18 may communicate with the popularitycalculator 20 to determine a percentage of instances when a plurality ofsuggested recommendations for inbound flights are displayedinstantaneously upon the display 34 of the user interface 12 in responseto a particular outbound flight being selected by the end user. In oneexemplary embodiment, fifty suggested recommendations for an outboundflight may be published upon the display 34 of the user interface 12 inresponse to receiving the request from the end user. Specifically, thefifty outbound flights may be presented by a travel board, whichdisplays all of the available flights between the particular origin anddestination for the departure date as indicated by the request. Asdetermined by statistical analysis using the information stored in thepopularity database 22, it is predicted that an end user selects one ofthe first three outbound flights that are published upon the travelboard ninety percent of the time. Accordingly, the percentage ofinstances when a plurality of inbound flights are displayedinstantaneously upon the display 34 of the user interface 12 in responseto a particular set of outbound flights being selected by the end useris ninety percent. Thus, if an end user selects one of the top threeoutbound flights, then the available inbound flights may beinstantaneously published upon the display 34 of the user interface 12ninety percent of the time.

In the remaining ten percent of instances when an end user does notselect one of the top three outbound flights, then the available inboundflights are subsequently computed. It is to be appreciated that thepercentage of inbound flights being displayed instantaneously may bebased on a number of factors such as, for example, a particular travelprovider (e.g., specific airline), office identifier, the end user'sorigin and destination, and the airline website profile.

It is to be appreciated that every time an outbound flight suggestion isselected by an end user, the selection may be saved to the popularitydatabase 22. The selected outbound flight may be saved in the popularitydatabase 22 as a specific key. The specific key may indicate variouscharacteristics of the selected outbound flight such as, for example,origin, destination, and office identifier of the selected outboundflight. For example, if the end user is presented with a list ofoutbound flights from Nice to Paris, and selects the second flight thatis listed, then the specific key may include identifiers such asOrigin=NCE, Destination=Paris, and Office ID=PARAF08AA.

Continuing to refer to FIG. 1, once the percentage of instances when theinbound flights are displayed instantaneously based on a selectedoutbound flight is determined, then the aggregator 18 may communicatewith the popularity calculator 20 as well as the faring engine 25simultaneously in parallel. Specifically, the aggregator 18 communicateswith the popularity calculator 20 to determine a quantity or number n ofinbound flights, which is based on the percentage of instances when theinbound flights are displayed instantaneously based on a selectedoutbound flight. The number n represents the number of recommendedinbound flights that need to be calculated by the scheduling engine 28such that the inbound flights may be instantaneously displayed ninetypercent of the time. Specifically, the popularity calculator 20 and thepopularity database 22 receive as input from the aggregator 18 thepercentage of instances when the inbound flights are displayedinstantaneously based on a selected outbound flight (e.g., 90%). Thepopularity calculator 20 generates the number n of inbound flights as anoutput.

It is to be appreciated that the popularity calculator 20 may be calledupon both asynchronously and synchronously. Specifically, the popularitycalculator 20 is called asynchronously when an outbound flightrecommendation is stored within the popularity database 22, andsynchronously when the aggregator 18 needs to know the number n ofinbound flights based on the percentage of instances when the inboundflights are displayed instantaneously based on a selected outboundflight.

In addition to calculating the number n by the popularity calculator 20,the aggregator 18 also communicates with the faring engine 25 togenerate a synchronous request to determine the outbound flights thatmay be published upon the display 34 of the user interface 12 fordisplay to the end user. Specifically, in response to receiving thesynchronous request from the aggregator 18, the faring engine 25 maydetermine the plurality of outbound flights, and sends a reply to theaggregator 18. The outbound flights are also send to the context server26, where they are saved in memory.

In addition to obtaining the outbound flights, the faring engine 25 alsosimultaneously calculates the inbound flights that are instantaneouslydisplayed to an end user as well. For example, in the embodiment asdescribed the aggregator 18 may send an asynchronous request to thefaring engine 25 to calculate the inbound flights that are immediatelypublished to the display 34 of the user interface 12 in response to anend user selecting one of the top three outbound flights that arelisted. That is, the inbound flights coincide with a subset of thesuggested outbound flights that are published to the display 34 of theuser interface 12. The inbound flights are then saved to the contextserver 26. It is to be appreciated the synchronous requests for outboundflights are available for instantaneous display. However, theasynchronous requests for the inbound flights that are publishedimmediately are returned to the faring engine 25 as soon as they areavailable using Ajax mechanisms. Those of ordinary skill in the artreadily appreciate that Ajax is a mechanism used to update a displayedwebpage without the need to completely reload the webpage.

It is to be appreciated that the context server 26 may be used to storeall flight-related information in regards to both the inbound flights aswell as the outbound flights. In particular, in order to avoidrecalculating data in subsequent transactions, the context server 26 maybe used to store the inbound flights that are immediately published uponthe display 34 of the user interface 12 for display to the end user. Itis to be appreciated that the context server 26 may avoid pollingredundancy between the various steps that are used to present travelrecommendations to the end user. Polling is generally expensive in termsof response time and granular financial cost for a travel provider, suchas an airline.

The context server 26 may store the flight-related information for apredetermined amount of time, which may be referred to as time to live(TTL). Those of ordinary skill in the art will readily appreciate thatTTL limits the lifespan or lifetime of data in a computer or network.TTL may be implemented as a counter or timestamp attached to or embeddedin data. In one exemplary embodiment, the TTL may be set to ten minutes,however the TTL value may be adjusted based on the average time of anend user's conversation on the travel provider's website, and thevolatility of the flight availability data. It should also beappreciated that in order to handle larger flight domains, the contextserver 26 may employ software packages such as, for example, COUCHBASE.Those of ordinary skill in the art will readily appreciate that aCOUCHBASE Server is a non-Structured Query Language (NoSQL) documentdatabase having a distributed architecture for performance, scalability,and availability.

Referring now to FIG. 2, the user interface 12, the front end 14, andthe back end 16 of operating environment 10 may be implemented on one ormore computer devices or systems, such as exemplary computer system 40.The computer system 40 may include a processor 42, a memory 44, a massstorage memory device 46, an input/output (I/O) interface 48, and aHuman Machine Interface (HMI) 50. The computer system 40 may also beoperatively coupled to one or more external resources 52 via the network32 or I/O interface 48. External resources may include, but are notlimited to, servers, databases, mass storage devices, peripheraldevices, cloud-based network services, or any other suitable computerresource that may be used by the computer system 40.

The processor 42 may include one or more devices selected frommicroprocessors, micro-controllers, digital signal processors,microcomputers, central processing units, field programmable gatearrays, programmable logic devices, state machines, logic circuits,analog circuits, digital circuits, or any other devices that manipulatesignals (analog or digital) based on operational instructions that arestored in the memory 44. Memory 44 may include a single memory device ora plurality of memory devices including, but not limited to, read-onlymemory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), volatile memory, non-volatilememory, static random access memory (SRAM), dynamic random access memory(DRAM), flash memory, cache memory, or any other device capable ofstoring information. The mass storage memory device 46 may include datastorage devices such as a hard drive, optical drive, tape drive,volatile or non-volatile solid state device, or any other device capableof storing information.

The processor 42 may operate under the control of an operating system 56that resides in memory 44. The operating system 56 may manage computerresources so that computer program code embodied as one or more computersoftware applications, such as an application 58 residing in memory 44,may have instructions executed by the processor 42. In an alternativeembodiment, the processor 42 may execute the application 58 directly, inwhich case the operating system 56 may be omitted. One or more datastructures 60 may also reside in memory 44, and may be used by theprocessor 42, operating system 56, or application 58 to store ormanipulate data.

The I/O interface 48 may provide a machine interface that operativelycouples the processor 42 to other devices and systems, such as thenetwork 32 or external resource 52. The application 58 may thereby workcooperatively with the network 32 or external resource 52 bycommunicating via the I/O interface 48 to provide the various features,functions, applications, processes, or modules comprising embodiments ofthe invention. The application 58 may also have program code that isexecuted by one or more external resources 52, or otherwise rely onfunctions or signals provided by other system or network componentsexternal to the computer system 40. Indeed, given the nearly endlesshardware and software configurations possible, persons having ordinaryskill in the art will understand that embodiments of the invention mayinclude applications that are located externally to the computer system40, distributed among multiple computers or other external resources 52,or provided by computing resources (hardware and software) that areprovided as a service over the network 32, such as a cloud computingservice.

The HMI 50 may be operatively coupled to the processor 42 of computersystem 40 in a known manner to allow a user to interact directly withthe computer system 40. The HMI 50 may include video or alphanumericdisplays, a touch screen, a speaker, and any other suitable audio andvisual indicators capable of providing data to the user. The HMI 50 mayalso include input devices and controls such as an alphanumerickeyboard, a pointing device, keypads, pushbuttons, control knobs,microphones, etc., capable of accepting commands or input from the userand transmitting the entered input to the processor 42.

A database 54 may reside on the mass storage memory device 46, and maybe used to collect and organize data used by the various systems andmodules described herein. The database 54 may include data andsupporting data structures that store and organize the data. Inparticular, the database 54 may be arranged with any databaseorganization or structure including, but not limited to, a relationaldatabase, a hierarchical database, a network database, or combinationsthereof. A database management system in the form of a computer softwareapplication executing as instructions on the processor 42 may be used toaccess the information or data stored in records of the database 54 inresponse to a query, where a query may be dynamically determined andexecuted by the operating system 56, other applications 58, or one ormore modules.

FIG. 3 is an exemplary illustration of two travel recommendations for around-trip from Nice to Paris, and back from Paris to Nice for aparticular fare family. As seen in FIG. 3, both travel recommendations#1 and #2 both include an outbound flight as well as a correspondinginbound flight. The same outbound flight from Nice to Paris at 9:00 amcosts 60

when combined with the inbound NCE-PAR flight at 8:00 pm and 70

when combined with the inbound NCE-PAR flight at 4 pm. However, as seenin FIG. 3, the total price for the first travel recommendation is 140

while the total price for the second travel recommendation is 110

. Thus, it is to be appreciated that while the first travelrecommendation includes the lower price, the second travelrecommendation actually offers the lowest overall price.

Continuing to refer to FIG. 3, the first inbound flight from Paris toNice at 8 pm is 80

and the second inbound flight from Paris to Nice at 4 pm is 40

. Thus, it should also be appreciated that the travel recommendationsare both built based on the same outbound flight, but have differentinbound flights. Referring now to both FIGS. 1 and 3, the faring engine25 may communicate with the scheduling engine 28 of the back end 16 ofthe operating environment 10 to perform a bound calculation. The boundcalculation determines the least expensive travel recommendation foreach fare family based on the overall price of an itinerary. In otherwords, the bound calculation determines the least expensiverecommendation while taking into account all of the bounds for aparticular trip, and not the least expensive bound price withconsideration to all fare families. For example, in the embodiment asshown in FIG. 3, the second travel recommendation is selected since itoffers the least expensive price overall. Accordingly, the front end 14only communicates the second outbound flight from Nice to Paris costing70

to the user interface 12 for each fare family.

FIG. 4 is an illustration of the display 34 of the user interface 12,which publishes the second outbound flight for display to the end userusing the travel provider's website as part of an outbound travel board.It is to be appreciated that while a single outbound flight isillustrated in FIG. 1, the least expensive fare for each fare family foreach flight may be published upon the travel board. Turning back toFIGS. 1 and 3, in response to receiving an indiction that the end userhas selected a specific outbound flight, the faring engine 25 maycommunicate with the context server 26 and the scheduling engine 28 ofthe back end 16 of the operating environment 10 and perform a boundupdate to determine the inbound flights that correspond to the selectedoutbound flight. Specifically, as explained above, if one of the threemost popular outbound flights are selected, then the faring engine 25may retrieve the saved corresponding inbound flights from the contextserver 26. However, if the end user does not select one of the top threeoutbound flights, then the scheduling engine 28 may calculate thecorresponding flights.

It is to be appreciated that in order to provide as many options aspossible to an end user, a bound update may be performed every time anend user selects a particular bound. Specifically, the bound update isperformed in response to the end user selecting either an outbound or aninbound flight. The bound update determines a plurality of flights thatcorrespond to either the selected inbound or outbound flight. Forexample, if the outbound flight is selected, then the bound updatesdetermines the corresponding inbound flights.

As seen in FIG. 5, a travel panel that includes all of the inboundflights that correspond to the selected outbound flight, as well as theoutbound flight are published for display. Referring to FIGS. 1, 3, and5, both of the inbound travel recommendations that are shown in FIG. 3may be published for display to the end user. The second inbound flightshown in FIG. 5 corresponds to the second travel recommendation shown inFIG. 3. In other words, the second inbound flight shown in FIG. 5corresponds to the outbound flight having a price of 70

. Thus, if the end user selects the second inbound flight as shown inFIG. 5, then there is no need to update the pricing of either theoutbound or the inbound flight, since the selected inbound flightcorresponds to the outbound flight that was already selected. However,if the end user selects the first inbound flight shown in FIG. 5, then arefresh may be required in order to ensure that the end user is chargedthe lowest price possible. In the embodiment as described andillustrated in FIGS. 3-5, the lowest price possible for the round-waytrip is 110

.

The refresh may be performed by either adjusting the price of theselected outbound flight, or instead by updating the price of theinbound flight. Specifically, in the embodiment as shown in FIG. 5, theprice of the outbound flight may be refreshed from 70

to 60

. It is to be appreciated that the price of the outbound flight isadjustable, since both the first outbound flight and the second outboundflight shown in FIG. 3 are the same. Alternatively, in another approachthe price of the inbound flight may be refreshed from 80

to 70

. However, it is to be appreciated that either approach still results inthe same overall price for a round-way trip.

Another bound update may also be performed in response to the end userselecting either the first inbound flight or the second inbound flight.This bound update may be used to update the outbound flights that arelisted upon the travel panel. Specifically, the bound update isperformed to refresh the travel panel with the outbound flights thatcorrespond to the inbound flight that is selected by the user. Forexample, in the embodiment as shown in FIG. 3-5, the outbound flight iscompatible with both the first and the second inbound flight. Thus, thetravel panel for the outbound flights may stay the same in thisparticular embodiment. However, it is to be appreciated that in theevent multiple numerous outbound flights that correspond to the selectedinbound flight are available, then performing a bound update in order torefresh or update the corresponding outbound flights may be highlybeneficial. For example, in some types of configurations only a limitednumber of flights may be published for display to a user. In particular,one type of pricing scheme allows for only fifty outbound and inboundflights to be published for display. This means that at the boundcalculation step, up to fifty potential outbound flights may bedisplayed. However, there may be more flights that are actuallyavailable, but only fifty outbound flights may be displayed at a time.After the second bound update is performed on the outbound flights, thenthe outbound flights may be updated to show more outbound flights thatare compatible with the selected inbound flight, but were not initiallypublished for display.

Referring generally to the figures, the disclosed system improves theoverall efficiency of processing data associated with creating travelrecommendations for two or more bounds of a trip, and also solves aproblem that is rooted in computer technology. Indeed, the disclosedsystem addresses some of the issues encountered by a one-way display,which only generates only a limited number of travel recommendations andalso polls an airline's inventory system multiple times to retrieveinformation to generate both the calendar and the travel board display.Specifically, the disclosed system performs a bound update, whichprovides an end user with an increased number of travel solutions.Moreover, the disclosed system also stores flight information in thecontext server, which reduces the need for polling. Furthermore, thedisclosed system also addresses some of the issues encountered whenusing the one-way combinable approach, where an end user selects eachbound of a travel itinerary independently from one another. Indeed, thedisclosed system allows for an end user to book both bounds together,where travel recommendations may be generated based on a selectedinbound or outbound flight. Finally, it should also be appreciated thatthe disclosed system may provide an end user with the least expensivetravel recommendation for each fare family, which enhances customersatisfaction and maximizes revenue for a travel provider.

In general, the routines executed to implement the embodiments of theinvention, whether implemented as part of an operating system or aspecific application, component, program, object, module or sequence ofinstructions, or even a subset thereof, may be referred to herein as“computer program code,” or simply “program code.” Program codetypically comprises computer-readable instructions that are resident atvarious times in various memory and storage devices in a computer andthat, when read and executed by one or more processors in a computer,cause that computer to perform the operations necessary to executeoperations and/or elements embodying the various aspects of theembodiments of the invention. Computer-readable program instructions forcarrying out operations of the embodiments of the invention may be, forexample, assembly language or either source code or object code writtenin any combination of one or more programming languages.

Various program code described herein may be identified based upon theapplication within that it is implemented in specific embodiments of theinvention. However, it should be appreciated that any particular programnomenclature that follows is used merely for convenience, and thus theinvention should not be limited to use solely in any specificapplication identified and/or implied by such nomenclature. Furthermore,given the generally endless number of manners in which computer programsmay be organized into routines, procedures, methods, modules, objects,and the like, as well as the various manners in which programfunctionality may be allocated among various software layers that areresident within a typical computer (e.g., operating systems, libraries,API's, applications, applets, etc.), it should be appreciated that theembodiments of the invention are not limited to the specificorganization and allocation of program functionality described herein.

The program code embodied in any of the applications/modules describedherein is capable of being individually or collectively distributed as aprogram product in a variety of different forms. In particular, theprogram code may be distributed using a computer-readable storage mediumhaving computer-readable program instructions thereon for causing aprocessor to carry out aspects of the embodiments of the invention.

Computer-readable storage media, which is inherently non-transitory, mayinclude volatile and non-volatile, and removable and non-removabletangible media implemented in any method or technology for storage ofinformation, such as computer-readable instructions, data structures,program modules, or other data. Computer-readable storage media mayfurther include RAM, ROM, erasable programmable read-only memory(EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM),flash memory or other solid state memory technology, portable compactdisc read-only memory (CD-ROM), or other optical storage, magneticcassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magneticstorage devices, or any other medium that can be used to store thedesired information and which can be read by a computer. Acomputer-readable storage medium should not be construed as transitorysignals per se (e.g., radio waves or other propagating electromagneticwaves, electromagnetic waves propagating through a transmission mediasuch as a waveguide, or electrical signals transmitted through a wire).Computer-readable program instructions may be downloaded to a computer,another type of programmable data processing apparatus, or anotherdevice from a computer-readable storage medium or to an externalcomputer or external storage device via a network.

Computer-readable program instructions stored in a computer-readablemedium may be used to direct a computer, other types of programmabledata processing apparatus, or other devices to function in a particularmanner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readablemedium produce an article of manufacture including instructions thatimplement the functions, acts, and/or operations specified in the flowcharts, sequence diagrams, and/or block diagrams. The computer programinstructions may be provided to one or more processors of a generalpurpose computer, a special purpose computer, or other programmable dataprocessing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions,which execute via the one or more processors, cause a series ofcomputations to be performed to implement the functions, acts, and/oroperations specified in the flow charts, sequence diagrams, and/or blockdiagrams.

In certain alternative embodiments, the functions, acts, and/oroperations specified in the flow charts, sequence diagrams, and/or blockdiagrams may be re-ordered, processed serially, and/or processedconcurrently consistent with embodiments of the invention. Moreover, anyof the flow charts, sequence diagrams, and/or block diagrams may includemore or fewer blocks than those illustrated consistent with embodimentsof the invention.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particularembodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the embodimentsof the invention. As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the”are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the contextclearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that theterms “comprises” and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification,specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations,elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence oraddition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations,elements, components, and/or groups thereof. Furthermore, to the extentthat the terms “includes”, “having”, “has”, “with”, “comprised of”, orvariants thereof are used in either the detailed description or theclaims, such terms are intended to be inclusive in a manner similar tothe term “comprising”.

While all of the invention has been illustrated by a description ofvarious embodiments and while these embodiments have been described inconsiderable detail, it is not the intention of the Applicant torestrict or in any way limit the scope of the appended claims to suchdetail. Additional advantages and modifications will readily appear tothose skilled in the art. The invention in its broader aspects istherefore not limited to the specific details, representative apparatusand method, and illustrative examples shown and described. Accordingly,departures may be made from such details without departing from thespirit or scope of the Applicant's general inventive concept.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system comprising: at least one processor; anda memory coupled to the one or more processors, the memory storing datacomprising program code that, when executed by the one or moreprocessors, causes the system to: receive a request for a trip thatincludes at least a first bound and a second bound; in response toreceiving the request, generate a plurality of suggested recommendationscorresponding to both the first bound and the second bound of the trip;store the suggested recommendations corresponding to the first bound andthe second bound in a memory, wherein the suggested recommendationscorresponding to the second bound coincide to a subset of the suggestedrecommendations corresponding to the first bound published for display;publish the suggested recommendations corresponding to the first boundfor display to a user; in response to receiving an input that indicatesa selected recommendation for the first bound, determine whether theselected recommendation is one of the subset of the suggestedrecommendations corresponding to the first bound; in response to theselected recommendation being one of the recommendations of the subsetof recommendations, retrieve the suggested recommendations correspondingto the second bound from the memory; and publish the suggestedrecommendations corresponding to the second bound for display to theuser.
 2. The system of claim 1 wherein the program code, when executedby the one or more processors, further causes the system to: in responseto the selected recommendation being different than one of therecommendations of the subset of recommendations, calculate analternative set of recommendations for the second bound that correspondto the selected recommendation for the first bound; and publish thealternative set of recommendations for the second bound for display tothe user.
 3. The system of claim 1 wherein the subset of the suggestedrecommendations corresponding to the first bound is based on apercentage of instances when the suggested recommendations correspondingto the second bound from the memory are published instantaneously inresponse to receiving the input that indicates the selectedrecommendation for the first bound.
 4. The system of claim 4 wherein theprogram code, when executed by the one or more processors, furthercauses the system to: determine a quantity, wherein the quantityrepresents a number of the recommendations corresponding to the secondbound that need to be determined such that the suggested recommendationscorresponding to the second bound from the memory are publishedinstantaneously in response to receiving the input that indicates aselected recommendation for the first bound.
 5. The system of claim 1wherein the program code, when executed by the one or more processors,further causes the system to: store the suggested recommendationscorresponding to the first bound and the second bound to the memory fora predetermined amount of time, wherein the predetermined amount of timeis adjustable.
 6. The system of claim 5 wherein the predetermined amountof time is based on an average time of a conversation with the user on awebsite and a volatility of availability data for the trip.
 7. Thesystem of claim 1 wherein the first bound an outbound portion of thetrip, the second bound is an inbound portion of the trip, and the tripis a round-way trip.
 8. The system of claim 1 wherein the program code,when executed by the one or more processors, further causes the systemto: in response to receiving another input that indicates anotherselected recommendation for the second bound, update the suggestedrecommendations corresponding to the first bound that are published fordisplay to the user.
 9. The system of claim 1 wherein the selectedrecommendation for the first bound is saved to the memory as a specifickey.
 10. A method of generating recommendations for a trip, the methodcomprising: receiving, by a computer, a request for the trip, whereinthe trip includes at least a first bound and a second bound; in responseto receiving the request, generating, by the computer, a plurality ofsuggested recommendations for both the first bound and the second boundof the trip; storing the suggested recommendations corresponding to thefirst bound and the second bound in a memory of the computer, whereinthe suggested recommendations corresponding to the second bound coincideto a subset of the suggested recommendations corresponding to the firstbound published for display; publishing the suggested recommendationscorresponding to the first bound for display to a user; in response toreceiving an input that indicates a selected recommendation for thefirst bound, determining, by the computer, whether the selectedrecommendation is one of the subset of the suggested recommendationscorresponding to the first bound; in response to the selectedrecommendation being one of the recommendations of the subset ofrecommendations, retrieving the suggested recommendations correspondingto the second bound from the memory of the computer; and publishing thesuggested recommendations corresponding to the second bound for displayto the user.
 11. The method of claim 10 further comprising: in responseto the selected recommendation being different than one of therecommendations of the subset of recommendations, calculating, by thecomputer, an alternative set of recommendations for the second bound ofthe trip that correspond to the selected recommendation for the firstbound; and publishing the alternative set of recommendations for thesecond bound of the trip for display to the user.
 12. The method ofclaim 10 wherein the subset of the suggested recommendationscorresponding to the first bound is based on a percentage of instanceswhen the suggested recommendations corresponding to the second boundfrom the memory of the computer are published instantaneously inresponse to receiving the input that indicates the selectedrecommendation for the first bound.
 13. The method of claim 12 furthercomprising: determining a quantity by the computer, wherein the quantityrepresents a number of the recommendations corresponding to the secondbound that need to be determined by the computer such that the suggestedrecommendations corresponding to the second bound from the memory of thecomputer are published instantaneously in response to receiving theinput that indicates a selected recommendation for the first bound. 14.The method of claim 10 further comprising: storing the suggestedrecommendations corresponding to the first bound and the second bound tothe memory of the computer for a predetermined amount of time, whereinthe predetermined amount of time is adjustable.
 15. The method of claim14 wherein the predetermined amount of time is based on an average timeof a conversation with the user on a website and a volatility ofavailability data for the trip.
 16. The method of claim 10 wherein thefirst bound an outbound portion of the trip, the second bound is aninbound portion of the trip, and the trip is a round-way trip.
 17. Themethod of claim 10 further comprising: in response to receiving anotherinput that indicates another selected recommendation for the secondbound, updating, by the computer, the suggested recommendationscorresponding to the first bound that are published for display to theuser.
 18. The method of claim 10 wherein the selected recommendation forthe first bound is saved to the memory of the computer as a specifickey.
 19. A computer program product for generating recommendations for atrip, the computer program product comprising: a non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium; and program code stored on thenon-transitory computer-readable storage medium that, when executed byone or more processors, causes the one or more processors to: receive arequest for the trip, wherein the trip includes at least a first boundand a second bound; in response to receiving the request, generate aplurality of suggested recommendations for both the first bound and thesecond bound of the trip; store the suggested recommendationscorresponding to the first bound and the second bound in a memory,wherein the suggested recommendations corresponding to the second boundcoincide to a subset of the suggested recommendations corresponding tothe first bound published for display; publish the suggestedrecommendations corresponding to the first bound for display to a user;in response to receiving an input that indicates a selectedrecommendation for the first bound, determine whether the selectedrecommendation is one of the subset of the suggested recommendationscorresponding to the first bound; in response to the selectedrecommendation being one of the recommendations of the subset ofrecommendations, retrieve the suggested recommendations corresponding tothe second bound from the memory of the computer; and publish thesuggested recommendations corresponding to the second bound for displayto the user.